It’s a double dose of looking back this week. First with Garland, then with Brakhage. Few faces are as iconic in the cinema as is Judy Garland, which is why Renée Zellweger’s performance is so commendable: She inhabits Garland’s looks, … Continue reading This week in Film — JUDY and Celebrating Stan
When Network was released in 1976, it was already past its prime. The glory days of the newsrooms were over and sensationalism had replaced rationalism. It looks and feels revolutionary from today’s vantage, but for audiences watching it on the … Continue reading This week in Film — NETWORK and ONE CUT OF THE DEAD
What an odd combination of recommendations. One of the earth, the other of space. One of connection, the other of separation. One of a forager, the other of an explorer. One of… You get the picture. As Ad Astra takes … Continue reading This week in Film — FANTASTIC FUNGI and AD ASTRA
One of the best movies I saw at this year’s Telluride Film Festival was Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life — a narrative based on the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian contentious objector who refused to raise right hand to … Continue reading This week in Film — OFFICIAL SECRETS
Few cinematic pleasures are greater than a Labor Day weekend spent inside Telluride’s picturesque box canyon. At 8,750 feet above sea level, the air is thin and crisp. The sun’s rays beat down on you, but a breeze instantly chills … Continue reading This week in Film — Dispatches From the 46th Telluride Film Festival
Martin Scorsese says cinema is a question of what’s in the frame and what’s out. That frame is the heart and soul of The Chambermaid, the excellent new drama from director Lila Avilés about Eve (Gabriela Cartol), a chambermaid existing … Continue reading This week in Film — THE CHAMBERMAID
I left my first view of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood eager to see it again. There was simply too much to absorb on a single viewing. And while the first viewing was mesmerizing, the second was clarifying. There … Continue reading This week in Film — ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD and YESTERDAY
Winner of the audience award at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, The Peanut Butter Falcon is a feel-good film wrapped around a Mark Twain yarn. But, the real story is how the movie got made. My interview with … Continue reading This week in Film — THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON
Documentaries about notable figures are a dime a dozen. The ones that lionize the artists are the most egregious because they distance their work from their humanity. Yes, John Coltrane may have been one of the greatest jazz musicians of … Continue reading This week in Film — TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
History, by its very nature, is reductive. There’s simply too much to consider, too many players to figure, and too many stories to remember. To the victor go the spoils the saying goes. And when the history of cinema was … Continue reading Sunday Streams — BE NATURAL
